Catcher 02
by Luchia13
Summary: Rating for future. Heero's championship baseball game is destroyed by an obnoxious catcher who, surprise surprise, ends up transferring to his school. 1x2, 3x4. (Now featuring Chapter 3)
1. Prologue

A/N: First! This is in competition with a few other fics of mine to see which I write. PLEASE go check those out, and tell me which you'd like me to do. Well, eventually I'll do all of 'em, but hey. Time's money, and all of these at the same time? (laughs) Not gonna happen.

Catcher 02 is what comes from reading Catch 22 at the same time you're watching the all-star game. Kinda hurts your head, too. Anyway, I'm very excited about this one. I always love it when catchers annoy the batter to death in baseball. Makes me happy. :D And yes, I know baseball is supposed to be a "gentlemanly" sport, but I figure with the g-boys, it would be anything but. (Feel free to watch for Catch 22 and other book references, by the way.)

Alright, so warnings are profanity, violent behavior...and I think that's it for now. 1x2x1 will most certainly be coming up, along with 3x4.

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters, or baseball (surprising), so just read the story now.

Catcher 02

Prologue

He met the catcher at the worst time imaginable.

The sun was shining as Heero stepped onto the field, the almost-sacred sand beneath his shoes crunching as he waited for his turn. The crowd, upon seeing Yuy's emergence from the dugout, roared in anticipation.

'Here comes the star,' Heero grumbled in his mind, glaring at whatever moved in his line of sight. He hated his reputation. He hated the way people stood up as soon as he was at bat, how every time he made a home run that was one more annoying fan, one more place in the record book. In reality, all he wanted to do was go back to his dismal apartment, lock the door, break every baseball-related item he could find with his bat, and then break that too.

But, he couldn't escape it. Once, he'd tried, and failed miserably. Deep down, he knew he lived for the game, for the competition. Because, also deep down, it wasn't a game to him.

'Nothing's a game,' Heero's mind whispered.

Mudd struck out, and the crowd from South High roared. Glumly, the boy returned to the dugout as Yuy strode next to home plate. Two strikes already in the bottom of the third inning. For fairness, Yuy was sixth down in the line-up, not to mention likelihood of a grand slam to up his reputation. Like every damn day he played, Heero got into his batting stance.

"Nice ass," the catcher said, and Heero, being shocked, indignant, and a little curious, made the mistake of looking back at the catcher. The ball whizzed by as the Pianosa High School catcher chuckled.

"Strike one," the umpire yelled, and there was an awed silence in the crowd, from both South and Pianosa High. Heero's own uniform, with the number 1 emblazoned on the gray shirt, contrasted Pianosa's pinstripe. With another backwards glance, Heero noticed the catcher had a 02 on his own jersey.

"Shut up, 02," Heero growled. The pitcher wound up, and the catcher laughed again.

"Just wiggle a bit more for me," he said casually, and once again Yuy's head snapped back to glare at the obnoxious player. The ball slammed into the catcher's mitt, and although Heero couldn't see it through the mask, he knew the catcher was smiling.

"Strike two," the umpire screamed, and both sides of the large crowd gasped.

"Yuy! What the hell are you doing up there," the coach screamed, but Heero was too busy being pissed off to care. "This is the CHAMPIONSHIP GAME, damn it! HIT THE DAMN BALL!"

"Shut the fuck up, or it'll be you I hit with my bat," he growled at the catcher, and turned his attention back to the pitcher.

"Well, I always did like it hard," the catcher said seductively, and Heero couldn't help but turn at the heat in that tone, just as the ball whooshed by. The catcher chuckled.

"Strike three! You're out," the umpire screamed, adrenaline pumping.

"I'm going to kill you, 02," Heero snarled, but the umpire was too quick to separate the teenagers.

"One more threat like that, Yuy, and you're out of the game," the man said, and Heero being no fool began to walk back to the South dugout.

"Bye, lover," the catcher yelled at Heero's back, and he'd had enough.

"I swear, if I ever see you again, I will kill you! You're a worthless piece of shit," Heero yelled. He was madder than hell, and didn't even realize he was about to pummel the player with his wooden bat.

"That's it! You're out of the game," the umpire yelled, and every single fan gasped. Heero's mouth dropped open, and the agonized cry of "NOOOOO" from his coach reverberated through the grandstands and field. Even the catcher looked ashamed...as far as Heero could tell.

"Please, sir! Please don't kick him out," the coach screamed, but the umpire refused to change his verdict, no matter how earnest the pleas.

"Get off my field," the umpire yelled, and Heero, after flicking the catcher off, stormed out of the complex without even changing.

------

A/N: Short, but the right length. Prologue! Yay.

Well, thanks for reading! Please review & tell me if you like this one best!


	2. Skid Marks

A/N: I'M ALIVE! And no, it's not Prodigy, but sometimes old ideas turn new. Ah, yes, Catch-22 logic…my precious…Anyway, I'm determined to update ALL my stories after my month-and-a-half demise. This one (as my secret lover. Don't tell Prodigy, she'll get jealous) got first dibs. Others to be updated soon.

Warnings schmormings! Dive into unknown waters headfirst!

Disclaimer: All I got's this here story & me other stories. Please don't steal from me, and I won't steal from you. First line is also the first line of Catch-22. Yep, still going off that thing.

Catcher 02

Chapter 1

Skid Marks

It was love at first sight.

The first time Duo saw the Yuy kid again, he was at South High School. It was the first day of his senior year, and like usual Duo was late. Not that he wanted to be on time, of course. In fact, he'd planned to be two minutes _later_, but on a spur of the moment decision figured only 28 minutes late was close enough to half an hour, and that late was still late even if he was two minutes early.

Sneaking in had been easy enough. All he did was say that back at Pianosa High the school day started half an hour later than the bell, and the security guard, trying to figure out the above logic, just let him slip by.

But, Duo figuring he still had two minutes off, slipped into the library. Literally. While he'd been reading the posters on the wall, he'd neglected to read the sign in the middle of the tiled ground proclaiming 'wet floor', and went sliding straight through the double doors, screaming all the way down the artificial slip-n-slide. He only stopped when he hit the carpet, which most certainly didn't improve his day any. Neither did the face that blurred into view when he opened his eyes, groaning.

"Worst rugburn of my life…"

Heero Yuy, quite possibly the sexiest baseball player alive. And the most vicious, if rumor was to be believed since last year's championship game.

_Heh. Let's avoid mentioning that._

"You don't appear badly hurt." A hand loomed over him, and Duo flinched back, eyes slamming shut. He was gonna die. He was gonna die. Ohgodohgodohgod…

"…Heero? What are you _doing_?" It was a far more friendly voice that spoke, amused, and definitely not Yuy's. That didn't mean the jock wouldn't pulverize him as soon as his eyes opened, though. The unanimous decision- 1 against 0- was to keep them welded shut and keep from screaming.

The scary third baseman above him shifted. "What's it _look_ like I'm doing?"

A third voice joined in, snorting. "Happily raping the new kid."

Yuy finally moved aside. "Funny, Chang. Real funny."

"I try." The dryness in his voice could have sucked a lake dry. Duo thought he could get to like this Chang kid.

A polite voice cleared their throat, and Duo's eyes strained open a little. Cheerful aqua eyes smiled down at him. "Good morning! That was a nasty slide. Are you okay?"

To Duo's eternal embarrassment, all he got out was a strained "Ooooowwwwww." It sounded like a toddler's attempt at the word "owl" and giving up halfway, overpronouncement quite pronounced and lips trying to equally overcompensate. All it managed to do was make him look extremely pained- which he was. When he tried to stand up, searing pain crashed onto his back. "OWWW!"

Someone behind him hissed. "He needs to go to the nurse. It looks like he ripped off a lot of skin."

Yuy, an indomitable presence standing politely to the side, nodded and moved towards Duo, who winced again. He didn't pay it any attention. "Can you stand?" Duo nodded, and took the blonde boy's hand, sucking air in fast as the pain intensified. Oh, god. If Yuy didn't kill him, the floor would get the job done.

Surprisingly, all three of them- Yuy, the disturbingly motherly blonde, and the dry oriental guy- managed to escort him wincingly all the way down two doors to a bored-looking woman.

She eyed him like a worm for her hook. "…Yeeeessss?"

Duo swallowed the lump in his throat, only for a bigger one to form. The woman was built like a tank, but moved like a stripper towards him. Oh, things just kept getting BETTER AND BETTER, didn't they? Eye-raped by Yuy and now about to be bandaged up by a drag queen. With his luck, Trowa'd walk through the door and start singing his praises as a catcher. In detail. Citing three examples.

"He scraped his back, and needs some sort of salve for the pain." Surprisingly, it was Yuy who spoke up.

Nurse "Mary" nodded, and quickly pulled, as in literally grabbed hold and yanked, Duo to the stereotypical cot, plunking him down and flinging his shirt up. The "woman" tsked at the wound. "Boys nowadays. Couldn't have a broken arm or something, could you? No, you had to go and scrape up your back…" The grumbling continued on as a chilling cream was applied, and then the biggest band-aid he'd ever seen was quickly slapped on.

"Now get back to class!"

The four were shoved out the door…

…and Duo fell straight on his face. Snickers abounded.

Duo thunked his head on the linoleum again, this time intentionally. He hated his life. "God, kill me now."

xx

That was fun. I missed writing this story. And yeah, this is short, but because I'm doing the FINAL final final tweaking of my 43-page TS Eliot paper. Hope I get a good grade…

TA!

READER RESPONSES:

_First off,_ let me just say I adore you all. Thank you very much for sticking around for the…how long, Six months? Yep. Thank you for sticking around during my six-month absence. It won't happen again. Much love!

Mistress Koishii: Look, I'm a day early! Isn't it just sad I'm proud of that?

TKM: Eeek. Sorry for trying your patience for so very very long.

Windy River: You LIKE it! THANKS!

KawaiiTenshi27: Aww, you think it's funny! Thanks so much! And thank you very much for reviewing.

Zuri Hawara: Oooh, a class A fan/stalker? Sounds fun! Thank you very much!


	3. Trowa

A/N: Before I forget, I'm utterly disregarding school starting dates and all that. We'll just say…umm…how 'bout their baseball season starts in the summer? Yeah. That'll do.

Thanks to Cerulean Waters for reminding me I still have this story. Ah, I love it so…

Catcher 02

Chapter 2

Trowa

Trowa Barton was crazy, as any student at Pianosa High School could have told you. And those students included Trowa Barton. Most saw him as a quiet, crazy enigma who could kill you with a fastball. Duo saw him as a quiet, crazy enigma to everyone else but him who could still kill you with a fastball regardless.

He was a man who read Victorian-era novels while listening to Alice Cooper. He was a man who could say a thousand words with a look yet absolutely nothing in a monologue. And he was crazy on the baseball field.

Some called him the Towering Trowa of Terror, since he loomed over the batter with his six-foot advantage and could scare people off the plate with a glare, and the public always enjoys a good use of alliteration.

Duo Maxwell, however, called him Tro. Or, at the moment, "you".

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE!"

Trowa looked up from _Pride and Prejudice_ with one of his speaking smiles as Duo and the other three boys strode back into the library. "Hello Duo. My uncle died."

"Ah." Duo nodded sagely as the other three boys with him grew more confused by the moment. "That explains everything." Duo Maxwell was quite possibly the only person on the planet who could follow Trowa's logic.

"What does that mean?" The blonde- Quatre, Duo reminded himself- asked. Trowa frowned, yet again his green eyes telling everything. Or, at least they would have if the other four boys were close enough to gaze into them.

"Trowa lived with his uncle, who was about 94 and half dead last time I was over in Pianos…uh, Pianos High School. If he died, that'd leave Trowa to come over here and live with his half-sister Catherine," Duo explained, and then turned, grinning, back to his best friend. "Hi!"

"I can't help but notice the company," Trowa stated, and yet again Duo jumped into action.

"Trowa Barton, meet…well, I, uh, don't have their full names yet…"

"Quatre Raberba Winner," he said, coming over and shaking Trowa's hand. "I play shortstop."

Trowa smiled just a little. "Towering Trowa, eh?" Duo chuckled, and Quatre just shrugged.

"Well, I admit to following your stats. You going to try out for the team?"

"We have a pitcher," Heero stated rather quickly, only for Wufei to snort in disdain.

"Otto? He barely knows what a ball _looks _like, let alone how to throw it," he muttered dryly, as always. He bowed slightly towards Trowa. "Chang Wufei, second base. And the kid glaring at you over there's Heero Yuy."

Trowa chuckled. "So that explains the hostility." Heero frowned, and Trowa stretched a little, putting a bookmark in the novel and setting it down on the table. "If it makes you feel any better, I wasn't there during the championship game." His eyes were shining again. "On the other hand, Du-OW! Uh. Huhhhh…" Trowa gritted his teeth as Duo finally let go of his shoulder blade. Or, more specifically, the skin around his shoulder blade.

"Well then, there's sure to be no hard feelings if you decide to try out for the baseball team. It's this afternoon, by the way," Quatre said diplomatically. His aqua eyes swung over to Heero. "Isn't that right, Heero?" The definitely firmer tone got the other boy to nod. "Good. Duo, do you play baseball?"

Duo blinked, and grinned. "Who, me? Naaah. Me and baseball go together like…umm…"

"Like Duo and baseball," Trowa supplied, and smiled back at the other three boys. "I'll be sure to drag him along." He just barely missed the pinching of his lifetime by standing very, very quickly. "I'll see you there. After school at the baseball field?" The other three nodded. "We'll be there."

"TROWA!"

A green glare was his reward. "We're going, Duo. You both deserve that much."

For once, Duo couldn't follow the logic, but with a cordial goodbye (yet another thing that made him crazy), Trowa had walked out of the library and off to whatever tall kids did during the day.

"So you play baseball too," Quatre asked, getting stuff out of his backpack at the same time as Heero and Wufei. It was all laid out on their four-person table. Heero's pencils, Duo couldn't help but notice, were lined up in a grid pattern, three up, one down. He couldn't help but wonder why the boy even thought he'd need that many pencils at one time.

"Uh, I guess you could say that," he said nervously. "Nothing special, though."

"I'll judge that. What's your last name," Heero asked, and Duo nearly shrieked as he pulled out last year's stat book, flipping straight to the Pianosa Varsity team.

"…I…don't know."

If it was possible, the quiet library grew even more silent.

"You don't know your last name." Wufei was staring at him, black eyes boring a way into his brain. He was going to pop any second.

"I don't know where my first class is," Duo blurted out, grinning. "Hey, anyone want to help me? It's a new school and very different from Pianosa, so I'm kind of lost, and the one time I tried to find my way I ended up slipping into here, and I don't know the schedule either so I don't know which class to be late to next."

Heero was incredulously, vapidly staring at his forehead.

Wufei gave him a crazy expression of, 'can anyone really be THAT stupid?'

Quatre, bless him into eternal paradise, sighed and smiled obligingly, standing up from his mildly organized pile of school-related junk. "Why not." He held out his hand. "Schedule?"

Duo shoved it into his hand, grinning. "Thanks, man."

But, after one look at it, Quatre sat back down, motioning Duo to the empty chair at the table. "Sit down."

Duo quirked an eyebrow up. "Huh?"

Quatre pointed to the paper's first line. "Study Hall, Room 1000- or, the library." Aww, shit… "You're in your class. Sit down, Duo. It lasts an hour and a half."

Duo groaned, slamming himself down in the chair with a grunt and letting his head bang onto the table. "If I survive that long…"

x---x

Trowa's always just one step ahead...

See the date? April 22nd? Huh? Yup. Figured this deserved an update for the date alone. Not to mention I wanted to…

READER RESPONSES:

Kaaera: Aww, I missed your Hitchhiker deadline by six days. Stupid time. Hopefully you'll enjoy Catch-22, though! It's a bit weird (like this fic), but enjoyable. I'll have to update on your birthday for you…or do you want a different birthday update? Hmm…

Duo Maxwell-Chang: Ah, yes, the horrible shortness of these chapters…sorry 'bout that. It's mostly 'cuz I have no real plan for this story, and I think it's just genuinely fun to write/read. And thank you VERY much for reviewing!

KawaiiTenshi27: Hmm…well, a month and a bit isn't TOO bad for Catcher 02…(snicker) "Alone time" indeed…Gives me ideas…Thanks for reviewing!

Gods sent angel: Wow! You liked my inappropriate usages of the word 'rape'? COOL! And 'twas is VERY under appreciated. I want to hear one of these 'perturbing sentences', honestly…

Proton7: Thaaank yoou! Sorry I take so long to, you know, WRITE.

Serena429: Ah, the tribulations of updating quickly. Sorry for that. But thanks for reviewing!

Windy River: I sure do try!

TKM: Thank you VERY much! I love patient people, and I hope you think it was worth the wait.

Ink2: Yep, Duo switched schools for a reason you'll see later. Sorry 'bout not making that very clear. Thanks very much for reviewing!

Kushielle: I stand proudly in front of my earlier-but-still-very-late updating! Woohoo! Well, yeah, I abuse Duo, but…well, I DID have a reason for it, but it just sorta abandoned me. Go figure. Thanks for reading, though! It's always great to hear from you.

Cerulean Waters: Oh, thank you thank you THANK YOU for reviewing and reminding me I had this. Thank you SO much! And the discovering will eventually happen, and you'll definitely want to be around when THAT happens. Muwahahah…Thank you again! (And your secret's safe from Prodigy, that time-hoarding, annoying harpy of a story. It just won't leave my brain alone!)


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